THE ASCENT PROJECT
The Ascent Project is the largest coordinated effort for women founders ever built in Australia.
It’s a national funding infrastructure model — designed to give women founders the clarity, tools, and access they were never handed, and the pathways they need to raise and grow on their terms.
Free. On-demand. Open-access. Built with 30+ funders, advisors, operators, corporates and ecosystem partners.
Launching early 2026. Free, national, open-access.
WHAT MAKES ASCENT DIFFERENT
It’s not an accelerator. It’s infrastructure.
A national platform designed so women founders can raise with clarity, confidence, and real support behind them.
Accessible from anywhere
Free, on-demand, and built to meet founders where they are — regardless of stage, location, or industry.
Aligned with Australia’s leading funders
Created alongside 30+ VC funds, angels, corporates, operators, and advisors who actively shape the funding landscape.
A complete view of capital
Every pathway made visible. Every trade-off explained. Founders choose the direction that fits their model and ambition.
Deeply practical education
Not content — capability. Step-by-step frameworks and tools designed by the people who deploy capital every day.
Meaningful connection and access
Curated events, warm introductions, and national visibility that put founders in the rooms that matter.
Data that shifts an entire system
Ascent provides ecosystem-wide insight into where founders progress, where they stall, and what support actually creates outcomes — enabling continuous improvement across the funding pipeline.
A model built for results, not rhetoric
Ascent isn’t here to comment on the gap.
It’s here to close it — with clarity, access, structure, and national alignment.
It’s not an accelerator. It’s infrastructure.
A national platform designed so women founders can raise with clarity, confidence, and real support behind them.
Accessible from anywhere
Free, on-demand, and built to meet founders where they are — regardless of stage, location, or industry.
Aligned with Australia’s leading funders
Created alongside 30+ VC funds, angels, corporates, operators, and advisors who actively shape the funding landscape.
A complete view of capital
Every pathway made visible. Every trade-off explained. Founders choose the direction that fits their model and ambition.
Deeply practical education
Not content — capability. Step-by-step frameworks and tools designed by the people who deploy capital every day.
Meaningful connection and access
Curated events, warm introductions, and national visibility that put founders in the rooms that matter.
Data that shifts an entire system
Ascent provides ecosystem-wide insight into where founders progress, where they stall, and what support actually creates outcomes — enabling continuous improvement across the funding pipeline.
A model built for results, not rhetoric
Ascent isn’t here to comment on the gap.
It’s here to close it — with clarity, access, structure, and national alignment.
About the Program
About the Program
About the Program
WHY IT EXISTS
Because women founders don’t lack capability — they lack the right conditions.
Women are already building exceptional companies: commercial, scalable, global.
The issue has never been talent. It’s the system they’re expected to operate in — fragmented, unclear, slow to recognise the signals women-led companies produce.
So instead of waiting for the system to change overnight, we built the tools to navigate it anyway.
Ascent gives founders:
Clarity over every funding pathway
Visibility into how the ecosystem actually works
Access to people who materially influence outcomes
Momentum through curated connections and national events
Ascent is not commentary on the gap.
It’s the mechanism for closing it.
Because women founders don’t lack capability — they lack the right conditions.
Women are already building exceptional companies: commercial, scalable, global.
The issue has never been talent. It’s the system they’re expected to operate in — fragmented, unclear, slow to recognise the signals women-led companies produce.
So instead of waiting for the system to change overnight, we built the tools to navigate it anyway.
Ascent gives founders:
Clarity over every funding pathway
Visibility into how the ecosystem actually works
Access to people who materially influence outcomes
Momentum through curated connections and national events
Ascent is not commentary on the gap.
It’s the mechanism for closing it.
About the Program
About the Program
About the Program
WHAT ASCENT DOES
Clarify
Founders get total visibility over the funding landscape so they can decide if, why and how they should raise.
Clarify
Founders get total visibility over the funding landscape so they can decide if, why and how they should raise.
Clarify
Founders get total visibility over the funding landscape so they can decide if, why and how they should raise.
Identify
Founders build a personalised, realistic capital plan that defines their strategy, timing and pathway forward.
Identify
Founders build a personalised, realistic capital plan that defines their strategy, timing and pathway forward.
Identify
Founders build a personalised, realistic capital plan that defines their strategy, timing and pathway forward.
Prepare
Founders create a complete, funder-ready package — documents, narrative, data room and materials — before they ever step into the room.
Prepare
Founders create a complete, funder-ready package — documents, narrative, data room and materials — before they ever step into the room.
Prepare
Founders create a complete, funder-ready package — documents, narrative, data room and materials — before they ever step into the room.
Connect
Founders meet the right funders, partners and operators at the right time, turning clarity and preparation into real capital conversations.
Connect
Founders meet the right funders, partners and operators at the right time, turning clarity and preparation into real capital conversations.
Connect
Founders meet the right funders, partners and operators at the right time, turning clarity and preparation into real capital conversations.
About the Program
WHAT YOU'LL GET
Free, on-demand education modules built by funders and operators
Curated introductions and warm pathways to partners
National visibility across the 30+ partner network
Practical tools for valuation, investor outreach, capital strategy and narrative
A constantly evolving set of resources shaped by the ecosystem itself
IRL events, masterclasses, roundtables and pitch nights tailored to their stage
About the Program
WHAT YOU'LL GET
Free, on-demand education modules built by funders and operators
Curated introductions and warm pathways to partners
National visibility across the 30+ partner network
Practical tools for valuation, investor outreach, capital strategy and narrative
A constantly evolving set of resources shaped by the ecosystem itself
IRL events, masterclasses, roundtables and pitch nights tailored to their stage
About the Program
WHAT YOU'LL GET
Free, on-demand education modules built by funders and operators
Curated introductions and warm pathways to partners
National visibility across the 30+ partner network
Practical tools for valuation, investor outreach, capital strategy and narrative
A constantly evolving set of resources shaped by the ecosystem itself
IRL events, masterclasses, roundtables and pitch nights tailored to their stage
About the Program
About the Program
About the Program
WHY NOW
Capital markets are tightening. Women-led startups continue to face structural friction. Momentum won’t happen without coordination.
Ascent is the collective response, built with intention, delivered with clarity, aligned across Australia.
Capital markets are tightening. Women-led startups continue to face structural friction. Momentum won’t happen without coordination.
Ascent is the collective response, built with intention, delivered with clarity, aligned across Australia.
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
Testimonials
Testimonials
Testimonials
REAL VOICES FROM OUR FOUNDERS
REAL VOICES FROM OUR FOUNDERS
FUNDING STARTS WITH CLARITY.
Get support through the Ascent Project.